Management and delivery of profile data

ABSTRACT

Aspects of the invention relate to systems and methods for securely retaining profile data and the use of such data for the targeted delivery of content. In one embodiment, a unique profile that represents the user location and is keyed to profile attributes selected from both a first set of data collected from the user location and the second set of profile data collected from an external source, is generated. The key does not allow a third party to identify the end-user location or a user associated with the end-user location. Electronic content transmitted to end-user locations may be encoded such that it may only be accessed by an authorized user and/or on a specific electronic device at the user location. A graphical user interface may be utilized to allow a third-party to provide selection criteria for determining user locations to receive targeted content. Further aspects of the invention relate to an electronic device configured to present targeted content to a user at a user location.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/370,426 filed Feb. 12, 2009, the entire disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of the invention relates generally to systems and methods forcontrolling delivery of media content. More particularly, aspects of theinvention relate to controlling the transmission of targeted media tospecific audiences. Further aspects relate to allowing third-parties toprovide selection criteria or control data for the delivery of targetedmedia, application, application behavior or messaging.

BACKGROUND

The integration and delivery of high-definition interactive televisionand the possibility of providing several hundred broadcast channels totelevision viewers has allowed users to receive highly individualizedcontent. This ability to satisfy multiple individualized demands is evenmore apparent with systems having video-on-demand and internetfunctionality. Indeed, in addition to seeking specialized broadcastingprograms, users now desire individualized advertising and othersecondary content. Unfortunately, several modern advertising systemsforce users to watch (or listen to) content for goods and services thatare neither needed nor desired. As expected, consumers have becomeimpatient and dissatisfied with these systems. Likewise, advertiserswant to optimize their advertising expenditures by ensuring thatspecific advertisements are directed to the appropriate audiences.Specifically in regards to television programming, advertisers wantspecific advertisements to air during programming that is being viewedby those individuals most likely to be influenced to buy the advertisedproduct, or otherwise respond in a desired fashion to the advertisement.U.S. Pat. No. 6,463,585, assigned to the present assignee, and hereinincorporated by reference in its entirety, describes various targetedadvertising systems.

Current targeted advertising solutions lack considerations regardingconsumer privacy, access privileges, and security. There is a need toprevent profile data relating to a user or a household (for example, butnot limited to: demographic, behavioral, and/or psychographic data) frombeing transmitted through a network to a remote location and to preventprofile data from being readily accessible by third-parties with accessto the set-top box or other advertising delivery mechanism (e.g., acomputer). Thus, novel systems and methods for improving the efficiencyand security of delivering targeted content to different user locationswould be beneficial to the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosure in orderto provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention by wayof exemplary embodiments. These embodiments do not define key orcritical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of theinvention. The invention is defined by the claims. The following summarymerely presents some of the concepts of the disclosure in a simplifiedform as a prelude to the more detailed description of aspects of theinvention provided below.

Aspects of the invention relate to systems and methods for securelyretaining profile data and the use of such data for the targeteddelivery of content. As used herein, the term “profile data” refers toany type of information relating to an account, device or individualuser, including demographic, behavioral, psychographic, as well asinformation regarding the usage of one or more applications ofelectronic devices by a user or users at an end user location. Profiledata relating to a specific account, device, or user collectively formsthe “profile” of that account, device, or user. In one embodiment, datais collected from an electronic device at a user location to form afirst set of profile data. The electronic device may be a set-top box,computer, modem, or other device configured to receive content from abroadcast provider. The content may include: audio, video, data, and/ormultimedia content configured to be displayed on an internet browser, acomputer, a television, portions of a screen, a banner, withinapplications and combinations thereof. The profile data may be, forexample, usage patterns regarding the electronic device. The profiledata may be obtained or generated from a number of different sourcesincluding internal and external sources. The data may be encrypted andstored locally at the user's location. In one embodiment, the first setof profile data is stored locally at the user location, such as on theelectronic device.

Additional profile data relating to a user may be collected from asource external to a service provider that provides services to one ormore of the electronic devices. The additional data may originate fromone or more different sources and be combined with data obtained fromthe service provider. In one embodiment, a unique profile thatrepresents the user location and is keyed to profile attributes selectedfrom both data derived from services provided by the service providerand data obtained from external sources. Aspects of the inventionprevent an unauthorized third party, application or sub-system fromdetermining the data including identification of the end-user location,a user associated with the end-user location, or data associated withthe end user location or end user. For example, the data may beencrypted using a session key, or a public key algorithm. The data maythen be downloaded to the individual set top box and stored locally. Thedata may be decrypted using the session key or public key algorithmrunning in the local device, e.g., a secure micro in a set top boxand/or a secure portion of a cable card in an electronic consumerdevice. The algorithm for accessing the profile data may reside in a settop box, a wireless router, and/or a security module such as a cablecard device.

In certain embodiments, a request from a third party may be receivedthat requests content to be transmitted to a plurality of user locationsthat meet criteria regarding a plurality of profile attributes. In oneembodiment, electronic content comprising a plurality of portions may betransmitted to those (or a subset of those) user locations. Theelectronic content may be encoded such that it may only be accessed byan authorized application, sub-system and/or on a specific electronicdevice at the user location. In further embodiments, a graphical userinterface may be utilized to allow a third-party to provide selectioncriteria for determining a plurality of user locations to receivetargeted content. The content may then be filtered using the profile atthe end user location and delivered on a selective basis. Statistics oncontent delivery based on the profile may be aggregated and reported toa centralized location either at the head-end or other networkoperations center or to a remote reporting center located on, forexample, a virtual private network (VPN) or the Internet.

In certain embodiments, a portion of the electronic content is presentedbased upon at least one profile attribute of a profile. In oneembodiment, the transmitted content may include a plurality ofadvertisements and the portion of the content presented to a user of theelectronic device is one of the plurality of advertisements. In one suchembodiment, the advertisements are downloaded to a computer-readablemedium at the user location and a decisioning module at the userlocation selects one of the advertisements from the plurality ofadvertisements to present to the user. For example, the computerreadable medium may be a hard drive, a solid state drive, and/or anoptical drive. The computer readable medium may be, for example, aninternal or external drive. The computer readable medium may be adigital video recorder (DVR) including any internal or external SATAhard drives.

Further embodiments may determine whether a profile attributerepresented within the profile has changed. In one embodiment, a secondportion of the content from the plurality of content may be presented atthe user location upon the determination that a specific profileattribute has changed. For example, where a user has changed locationfrom one house to a new house, the user may be presented withadvertisements for a security system or for VoIP phone service. Inanother example, an application instantiation may modify the profile tocondition the behavior of future application instantiations on the sameor different service delivery device. In another embodiment, additionalcontent may be requested. For example, the change in viewing habits mayprompt a request for additional content such as where specificprogramming is being watched on a regular basis. This may trigger asecure upstream request for a change of profile data associated with theset top box. Confirmation that the content was transmitted and/orpresented at the user location may further be conducted. In stillfurther embodiments of the invention, the users may be offered adiscount on the monthly service charges if the user permits certaintypes of targeted advertisements along with reporting associated withthe advertisements. For example, the user may be offered incentives ifthe user agrees not to fast forward the commercials in recorded programsand reporting of recorded commercials to a remote agency on an aggregatebasis.

Further aspects of the invention relate to an electronic deviceconfigured to present targeted content to a user at a user location. Inone embodiment, the device comprises an input port configured to receivea broadcast service and further includes a memory configured to recordusage patterns of the electronic device in relation to the broadcastservice. In one embodiment, a processor may be configured to generate aunique profile string from the usage patterns stored in the memory andprofile data obtained from an external source. In yet anotherembodiment, the device comprises a computer-readable medium thatcomprises computer-executable instructions that when executed by aprocessor perform a method for creating a unique profile or modifying anexisting profile. In one embodiment, the unique profile is a securestring that represents the user location and is keyed to profileattributes selected from both the usage pattern and external profiledata, wherein encryption or other physical and/or electronic security isdesigned to prevent a third party from identifying the end-user locationor a user associated with the profile data.

Of course, the methods and systems of the above-referenced embodimentsmay also include other additional elements, steps, computer-executableinstructions, or computer-readable data structures. For example,different embodiments may incorporate one or more aspects of theinvention defined above or one or more features of the detaileddescription below into other aspects of the invention. Additionalfeatures and advantages of the invention will be apparent upon reviewingthe following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limitedin the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicatesimilar elements and in which:

FIG. 1A shows an exemplary system in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 1B illustrates an exemplary CPE in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an exemplary method for transmitting targetedcontent to an end-user location in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 3 shows a diagram illustrating an exemplary collection anddistribution flow of profile data in a system in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 shows a table of exemplary users that may receive targetedcontent according to an illustrative embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an exemplary method of conducting anadvertising campaign in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Exemplary Systems and Definitions

Aspects of the invention relate to the transmission of content, such asmultimedia and communications data, between a delivery platform and oneor more electronic devices at an end-user location. As used herein, theterm “delivery platform” refers to any data, application or media sourcethat serves as an origination platform. Exemplary delivery platformsincluded, but are not limited to: a broadcast content source, on demandplatform, web based content source, data carousel, data server, andcombinations thereof. As used herein, the term “electronic device”refers to an apparatus that includes a memory and one or more logicdevices such as one or more processors, wherein the memory is configuredto include either computer-readable instructions or a state machine forperforming certain logic operations, such as navigating, selection,transmitting or receiving multimedia content and/or communication data.Exemplary electronic devices include, but are not limited to: a set-topbox, a telephone, a cable modem, televisions, mobile and desktop phones,computers (i.e., mobile, laptop, desktop), blue tooth enabled devices,picture frame displays, appliance displays and combinations thereof.

As used herein, the term “set-top box” is used to describe an apparatusthat is configured to navigate, select, receive and provide an output ofmultimedia content from a provider such as a broadcast, unicast,multicast, and/or video on demand, Internet, private network, or otherprovider (hereinafter content provider). The content provider mayinclude a cable system, satellite system, fiber optic system, telephonesystem, mobile car TV system, phone TV system, power system, or othersystem associated with providing content navigation, selection anddistribution services to a user (including business) location. Moreover,a set-top box is not required to be a separate apparatus, but ratherwould encompass a television and/or DVR configurable to receive themedia content. Indeed, any device that is configurable to receive andprovide an output signal comprising media content from a broadcastprovider falls within the term set-top box as used herein. Theapparatus(es) that form the set-top box may include one or moreprocessors, ASICS, memories, user interfaces, and other features tofacilitate the operation thereof. An apparatus may interact with otherdelivery or control platforms to navigate, select, and receive content.Content may include data, applications, broadcast media, on demandmedia, and combinations thereof.

Exemplary System

FIG. 1A shows an exemplary system in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention. Those skilled in the art with the benefit of thisdisclosure will readily appreciate that the teachings of the inventionmay be utilized on several different service delivery platforms;however, exemplary aspects and embodiments thereof will be explained inrelation to an exemplary system shown in FIG. 1A to readily conveycertain aspects and embodiments. In this regard, additional or fewercomponents may be utilized in the exemplary system 102 without departingfrom the scope of the invention.

As seen in FIG. 1A, exemplary system 102 may include communicationmedium 104 for transmitting data over a network including advertisingcontent and profile data which may be associated with a particular enduser account. The medium 104 may include, for example, fiber opticcable, coax, hybrid fiber coax (HFC), one or more wireless connections,satellite transceivers, or any combination of mediums that may transmitor receive content. For example, the medium 104 may transmit televisioncontent over a portion of the spectrum/time slots and the advertisingcontent over another or the same portions of the spectrum/time slots,and the profile and control data over another or the same portions ofthe spectrum/time slots. For example, the video programming may betransmitted over the quadrature amplitude modulated (QAM) channels whilethe control for the advertising may be transmitted over QPSK modulateddata channels. Further, the systems 102 may be conceptually divided intoone or more portions such as a relatively lower speed wireless portion106, a relatively High Speed portion 108, and one or more networkcomponents 110. The advertising data and profile data may be provided insecure fashion from one or more of the network components 108. Forexample, the network components 108 may variously include suchcomponents as the Internet 122, one or more network processing units 124(including media servers and advertising servers), one or more modemtermination systems (e.g., a cable modem termination system (CMTS) 126,and one or more terrestrial and/or satellite antenna systems 120,modulators including QAM modulators 127, QPSK modulators, modemtermination systems, VoIP servers including soft switches, policyservers (for example, providing advertising related policies), TFTPservers (for example, providing control information including profiledata), central repositories for storing data, such as billinginformation, advertising information, profile data, matrix switches,and/or other similar devices. The network components may cooperate toprovide management/application/voice/video/multimedia/advertising and/ordata services over the medium 104 to a high speed data portion such asan end-user location 110.

The end-user location 110 generally relates to one or more features,devices, and applications located at a user's location (e.g., customerpremises equipment (CPE)) which may be operatively connected andconfigured to interface with one or more broadcast providers and/orend-users at the user location in relation to media services associatedwith the cable system provider. For example, the end user location 110may be configured to provide targeted advertisements to the users basedon profile data obtained locally, from the network components 108,and/or from other external sources such as direct marketing companies.The end-user location may include any number of electronic devices,including various customer premises equipment (“CPE”) 112 with mayinclude one or more cable modems (“CM”) 114, televisions, computers,phones and/or other display devices. The cable modem 114 may bevariously configured to include a router, a wireless router, a cablecard, a security module, and/or other devices that incorporate amodulator and/or demodulator. As used herein, customer premise equipmentmay include electronic devices that are supplied, authorized or approvedby the broadcast provider for receiving services provided by one or morebroadcast providers. For example, a user may rent, purchase, or lease aset-top box from the cable company to receive at least a portion of theprogramming provided through the communication medium 104. The set-topbox may be configured to include a security module in securecommunication with one or more of the network components 108 fordistributing, maintaining, and managing profile and targeted advertisingcontent. The security of this profile and targeted advertising data maybe enhanced by maintaining some of the data locally and some of the dataat a remote location.

The wireless portion 106 may include an application portion 116, acontrol portion 118, and/or a receiver/transceiver portion 128 such as amobile car or phone. The control portion 118 may include systemsconfigured to facilitate controlling, provisioning, managing, and/orsecuring the wireless portion 106. The application portion 116 may beconfigured to provide applications to the wireless portion 106 such asvideo on demand, television, interactive television, and/or otherservices. Targeted advertisements may also be distributed to thewireless portion based on secure profile data stored locally in thewireless portion 106.

The antenna portion 120 may cooperate with the application portion 116and control portion 118 to support video and advertising operationsassociated therewith and/or it may act independently to providetelevision, music, video, and other multimedia services to the wirelessportion 106 responsive to profile and user data associated with users ofthe wireless portion 106 stored in the high speed data portion (e.g., inthe customer premises equipment). The wireless portion 106 and/or highspeed data portion 110 may be configured to operate according to orsupport the operation of any number of protocols, applications, andprocedures, including applications such as television programming(cable, satellite, broadcast, Internet, etc.), Video on Demand (VOD),interactive television (iTV), interactive gaming, pay-per-view (PPV),and protocols such as, Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Dynamic HostConfiguration Protocol (DHCP), Syslog, Simple Network ManagementProtocol (SNMP), Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP), Data Over CableService Interface Specification (DOCSIS), Domain Name Server (DNS)applications, DOCSIS Settop Gateway (DSG), out-of-band (00B) messaging,and/or various modulation schemes including QAM and QPSK.

The CMTS (Cable Modem Termination System) 126 may be configured to sendand receive signals over the communication medium 104, such as betweenthe Internet 122 and the CPE 112 and the CM 114. The CMTS may routeprofile data and/or targeted advertisements to particular subscribers.Alternately, the advertisements may be broadcasts over a QAM channel(see, e.g. QAM 127) or other broadcast channel located based on secureprofile, user preference, and/or user viewing habit data.

Once received at the end-user location 110, specific data, such as QoS(Quality of Service) configuration files, may be received at CM 114,while other information, such as audiovisual multimedia delivered in aspecific format (i.e., MPEG-2) may be received at other equipment, suchas CPE 112. Further, the CM 114 and the CPE 112 may be integrated as onecomponent. In the integrated configuration, the devices may sharesecurity processors for encrypting and/or securely storing the targetedadvertising data and/or the profile data.

The network components 108 may provide data services for the system 102,including services for the CM 114 to access the Internet 122 and for theCPE 112 to access profile and configuration data associated with theparticular user over a secure path such as an encrypted virtual privatenetwork. It may include a network element, such as a networkprovisioning unit (NPU) 124. The NPU 124 may be configured to supportany number of activities associated with the electronic devicesincluding provisioning with respect to targeted advertisements. Inaccordance with one non-limiting aspect of the present invention, theNPU 124 may include capabilities to facilitate configuring theelectronic devices, such as by distributing bulk configurations files toone or more the electronic devices. The bulk provisioning files mayinclude files for provision advertising content within the set top boxincluding profile data associated with a particular location includingusers within that location. It may be configured to communicate with theelectronic devices through any number of protocols, applications, andcommunication mediums, including DHCP, HTTP, SNMP, TFTP, and the like,and particularly including secure protocols such as a virtual privatenetwork (VPN) connection with the NPU 124 in the network components 108portion of system 102.

The receiver/transceiver portion 128 may be configured to connect thewireless network 106 to the network components 108 such as to the CMTS126 and/or other suitable network components 108. The receiver and/ortransceiver 128 may transport signals using any suitable protocolincluding IP, DVB, and/or other suitable video streaming protocolsincluding V Cast.

Exemplary CPE

FIG. 1B illustrates an exemplary CPE, such as CPE 112 shown in FIG. 1A,in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. TheCPE 112 may be variously configured. While a RF Splitter 130 is shown,the splitter is optional. For various fiber and pure digital televisionapplication, a splitter is not required. The CPE may or may not includea one or more embedded cable modem (eCM) 132, one or more embeddedset-top box(s) (eSTB) 134, one or more ports such as audio visual (A/V)ports, network ports, infrared ports, bluetooth ports, telephone ports,and/or wireless ports 136, a memory (e.g., volatile and/or non-volatile)138, one or more conditional access (CA) unit(s) 140 (e.g., a securemicroprocessor, encryptor/decryptor, and/or cable card), and one or moreprocessing elements such as logic and/or one or more processor(s) 142.In exemplary embodiments, the conditional access unit(s) 140 areutilized by the CPE 112 and/or network components 108 to securelytransmit, receive, and store both external profile data associated withthe user's location as well as locally generated profile data includingviewing habits encoded within the encoded string.

The advertising data may be downloaded either out of band using, forexample, a data channel and/or the embedded cable modem. Alternatively,or in addition, the advertising data may be downloaded in-band using,for example a QAM demodulator associated with the eSTB 134. In oneembodiment, the configuration files for the targeted advertisement aresent on an out-of-band control channel using QPSK modulation. In thisembodiment, the out-of-band and/or two-way secure targeted advertisingconfiguration and control data may be relayed to the eCM 132 and thetargeted advertising multimedia content may be separately relayed to theeSTB 134 which can alternatively be transmitted and stored in anon-secure manner. Where privacy is a major concern, the targetedadvertisements may be filtered at the input based on secure locallystored user viewing data and/or other profile data and then stored in asecure manner. In this way, a simply review of the advertisementsstored, for example, on the DVR will not reveal or give clues to theuser's viewing habits and/or profile data received from, for example, adirect marketing agency. The eSTB 134 may be configured to manipulatesignals and output video and other media signals to a media outputdevice such as an external E-SATA hard drive (not shown) and/or to thememory 138 which may include a digital video recorder. In this manner,the advertisements coming from the medium 104 may be filtered based onthe profile data and then processed through eSTB 134 so that they may bestored locally and potentially securely in memory 138. Thedecryptor/encryptor in the eSTB box may be loaded with a key andutilized to store securely any targeted advertisements which arefiltered and stored based on viewing habit data and/or other profiledata concerning the particular household.

The eCM 132 may be configured to process and control other signals, suchas advertising control signals. These signals may then be utilized bythe processors and/or logic 140 to control the eSTB to filteradvertisements. In exemplary embodiments, the advertisements may bedownloaded late in the night (e.g., at 3:00 am) by tuning one of thetuners in the eSTB to a channel to download targeted ads. The ads maystay resident until they have actually been viewed (and not fastforwarded), thus eventually guaranteeing that the occupant of thehousehold will eventually see the advertisement. The control informationconcerning advertisements may be sent through a secure tunnel with asecure server located in one of the network components 108. A VPNnetwork is one example of a secure tunnel. The eCM 132 may includenetwork communication capabilities for bi-directional communication ofdata signals with the network components 108. In this manner, thenetwork components may query the various end user devices in the systemsuch as wireless portion 106 and/or high speed portion 110 to determineactual viewing rates for the advertisements. In this manner, third-partyaudience measurement services may be supplemented or eliminated. Forexample, in a secure manner, using embodiments of the invention, theservers supplying advertising to the mass market may aggregate andreport the number of users within each category who actually saw theparticular advertisement placed.

The CA unit 140 may be configured to provide conditional access controlfor the CPE 112. It may include or be configured to receive a CableCard,SmartCard, or other item for controlling security and access to thedata, video, and control signals transmitted over the communicationmedium 104. The CA unit may be a secure microprocessor that forms partof the eSTB and/or a separate unit from the eSTB. It is illustrated as astandalone item, however, it can be included with or embedded on theeSTB 134 or the eCM 132 to perform similar functions. For example, theCA unit 140, eSTB 134, and/or eCM 132 may include a public key algorithmfor exchanging a session key with the advertising server located as partof the network components 108. This enables the advertising server withaccess to the direct marketing data as well as the server hosting theweb portal for advertising purchases to exchange data securely with theuser equipment. For example, a first security algorithm and/or sessionkey may be utilized between the advertising server and the directmarketing data supplier. Another security algorithm and/or session keymay be utilized between the advertising server and the server hostingthe web portal. For example, the web portal may be hosted by a serviceprovider. In yet another embodiment, a web portal may be hosted by anindustry-wide consortium or aggregate of service providers. In oneembodiment, orders placed on a web portal operated by one or moreentities may be securely transferred to an advertising server on aninformation provider's advertising server using a secure protocol and/orsession key. For example, orders and content input through a multi-partyweb portal may be transmitted to a first service provider (i.e. a cableoperator) using one session key/protocol and to another service providerusing another session key/protocol. Further, targeted advertising ordersmay be secured using a different session key/protocol than theadvertisements. In some cases, the advertisements themselves may not besecured while the order specifying which types of users are to betargeted with the ad is secured. Subsequently, the advertising server aspart of the service provider's network components 108 may forward theadvertisements to certain of its end users based on profile data storedsecurely and resident only at the service provider's network components108 and/or the end user equipment such as wireless portion 106 and/orhigh speed portion 110.

The eCM 132, eSTB 134, and CA unit 140 may be logically separateentities, however, they may physically share hardware and software.Other items, such as control logic and applications may be included onthe CPE 112 for controlling operation of the eSTB 134 and/or the eCM132. For example, the CA unit 140 may be implemented as a securemicroprocessor or cable card as part of the eSTB 134. Advertisements,profile data, and/or user viewing habits may be routed through the CA140 and/or through the eSTB 134 for encryption/decryption.

The CPE 112 may further comprise a decisioning module 142 which, asdiscussed below in more detail, may determine what portion of content,such as an advertisement to present to a user or record for laterpresentation. The decisioning module may be a separate entity (asshown), yet in other embodiments, the decisioning module may beimplemented in any module, including processor 140, that may executecomputer-executable instructions, such as those stored on memory 138 todetermine which portion of content to present to the user. Thedecisioning module 142 may, for example, review the data forwarded by anadvertising server in the network components 108 and begin accumulatingadvertising from the advertising server based on known profile data forthe end-user or apparatus. In yet another embodiment, the decisioningmodule 142 may be partially or wholly implemented in an upstream headend device, such as head end device 304 (discussed below). Yet in stillanother embodiment, the computer-executable instructions utilized indetermining which portion of the content to the user may be includedwithin the application stream containing the content.

The advertisements may be accumulated by selecting particular contentfrom a particular location at a particular time and/or based on aparticular program ID. The content may or may not be encrypted. Inexemplary embodiments, for some applications, once the targeted ads arelocated and filtered for a particular user based on a particularcampaign placed on, for example a web portal, the profile data of theend-user or apparatus profile, the advertisements are encrypted andstored locally for later insertion into the video stream. For example,certain cable subscribers may be offered a discount if they opt to seeone additional targeted advertisement per hour. More frugal users mightopt to have the cable company increase the advertisements in aparticular program by inserting an additional 30 second ad from thecable company in all DVR recorded programs. The above descriptions ofFIGS. 1A and 1B are exemplary, and are thus only intended to provideguidance on possible devices, applications, and configurations which maybe used for implementing aspects of the inventions described herein. Oneskilled in the art will realize that other configurations may also beutilized in various aspects of the invention.

Exemplary Methods

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an exemplary method for transmitting targetedcontent to an end-user location. At step 204, data is collected from atleast one electronic device at an end-user location to form a first setof profile data. In one embodiment, the collection of data at step 204may be a continuous process or performed on a routine basis. Certaintypes of data, however, may not change on a routine basis, for example,information regarding the identification and/or activation of a device,such as an unique identifier generated by the broadcast provider or athird party (i.e., MAC address), an ID for a specific user of a device,chronological data relating to the activation of a device, orcombinations thereof. For example, part of the end-user location datamay include whether the end user has a wireless network router, thenumber of computers in the home, the type, number, and configuration ofthe set top boxes (including DVRs), the type of wireless service, etc.

Other types of data may be collected based upon user-based actions, suchas usage patterns of the electronic device(s). For example, broadcastmedia subscribers, such as cable TV subscribers, generally receive atier of services for an agreed-upon price. The tier of service mayinclude multiple television and music channels, internet connectivityand/or telephone services. In this regard, data may be collectedregarding the monthly expenditures for one or more of these services,the number of electronic devices utilized to access one or more of theservices, and combinations thereof. Indeed, any data regarding the useof one or more electronic devices is within the scope of thisdisclosure. This data collection step may also include various userviewing criteria. However in preferred embodiments, this data issecurely stored in encrypted format. Further, the data collection mayoptionally be enabled or disabled by the end user as part of the set-topbox setup routine. This option may be enabled or disabled by the user aspart of the menu options in the set top box. The user may optionally beprovided an incentive to allow the option to be enabled including theaddition of an additional service or channel in the lineup. Theincentive may be tailored to the individual user by, for example, usingthe profile and/or direct advertising data to target a channel orincentive that might be of particular interest to the user. Further, theusage data may be subdivided into television usage and/or data usage. Inone embodiment, a user associated with one or more profiles may beprovided the option to enable one type of user viewing habits (e.g.,television programs) and disable other types of user viewing habits(e.g., web pages).

Other profile data may be gathered as part of providing the user withone or more services such as the data collected at step 204. This mayinclude data collected as part of a user requesting or applying forservices, input provided by questionnaires or discussion forums, and byother means. To ensure the security of the data, the first set ofprofile data is stored locally at the user location and may optionallybe encrypted. For example, in one embodiment, memory 138 of CPE 112includes computer-executable instructions that when executed by aprocessor, such as processor 140 records usage patterns for that CPEdevice (and possibly other networked electronic devices). For example,data relating to the channel, programming, time of day, DVR recordings,and combinations thereof regarding the viewed programming may be storedin memory, such as memory 138. The data may be secured inside a securelocation that includes one or more tamper resistant techniques such asthe EEPROM in a secure microprocessor, a tamper switch, and/or an epoxyor other resin coated memory.

The data collected in step 204 may be encrypted and therefore notaccessible by unauthorized parties. In yet other embodiments, the datamay be stored external to the electronic device to which the datarelates preferably in a secure form. For example, the data may be storedin an external DVR recorder in encrypted form. Storing the data locallydoes not require that it be stored on the device in which the usagepatterns or other profile data was collected from; rather, it may bestored either on a device selected by the user or a device within theuser's location. In this regard, the raw data is not transmittedexternally through a network without the user's knowledge. Further, themenu on the set top box may alternatively be provided with a deviceallowing the user to periodically purge the viewing habits data fromhis/her devices.

At step 206, profile data from one or more sources external to the userlocation is collected to form a second set of profile data. Exemplarydata may include, but is not limited to: the value of the user's home,any income information, such as provided in a credit statement, thequantity, age, and/or gender of any children, education, credit score,memberships, buying habits, health history, political affiliations,no-call lists, and combinations thereof. Any profile data from a sourceexternal to the service provider of the data collected in step 204 maybe collected step 206. Like step 204, step 206 may be a continuous orongoing process. In one embodiment, steps 204 and 206 may occursimultaneously. In another embodiment, data collected in one step mayaffect the data collected in another step. For example, if at step 204,usage patterns of an electronic device, such as a set top box 112,indicate that children's programming is suddenly being viewed for anextended duration, profile data specifically regarding children may becollected at step 206. Some third-parties may not wish to discloseproprietary information, such as their customer lists or even the factthat they are advertizing a specific promotion. Therefore, in oneembodiment, at least a part of the information collected at step 206 isencoded to prevent the content provider from knowing specificinformation within the content.

At step 208, a profile with a unique identifier and encoding scheme maybe created based on the needs of one or more campaigns or independentapplications. The data from 204 and 206 may be used by internal orexternal personnel to develop the ideal set of data values to be encodedand associated with a unique identifier. A unique profile may bevariously structured. In one embodiment, it is keyed to profileattributes within the local data (first set) and/or remote profile data(second set of data) specific to a campaign. The profiles may be storedin a localized location and be updated on an ongoing basis based on userbehavior 204, changes in external data 206, or locally modified by anapplication 214. The present system prevents all unauthorized access tothe profile data because in exemplary embodiments it may be storedsecurely within the customer's premise equipment. In these embodiments,the data need never be transmitted over the network to the networkcomponents 108. Further, in these embodiments, the profile need notcontain any identifying information regarding the user, nor the actualusage patterns. Rather, such data in this embodiment may be abstractedto reflect certain advertisements without actually storing usagepatterns. Further, in these embodiments, the collected data may remainon the electronic device from which it was collected or, alternatively,in another electronic device selectable by the user or in theirpossession. In one embodiment, the data may be stored on acomputer-readable medium operatively connected to the electronic device,such as an eSATA disk drive. In yet another embodiment, thecomputer-readable medium may be operatively connected through a wirelesscommunication protocol, such as IEEE 802.xx. In one embodiment, the datamay be stored on a home server within the user location premise.

At step 210, a request may be received from a third party requesting toprovide content to a plurality of user locations that meet criteria of aplurality of profile attributes. Indeed, certain aspects of theinvention relate to systems and methods that relate to the creation ofprofiles and allow third parties to access the profiles while ensuringthe identity of the users remains secure. In one embodiment, a graphicaluser interface (“GUI”) may be configured to allow third-parties toprovide the selection criteria. Those skilled in the art will readilyappreciate with the benefit of this disclosure that the selectioncriteria may include one or more profile attribute, such as, forexample, age, income, residence, political affiliations, quantity ofchildren, types of cars, and any other profile attributes. The GUI maybe available to third parties through a network portal, such as anintranet or the Internet. In one embodiment, the exemplary userinterface may be utilized by an employee of the broadcast provider whomay then determine if, and how, a specific third-party would benefitfrom providing content to specific user locations.

For example, at the Canoe web portal, an advertiser may be able totarget advertising to users who are republican, have small children athome, and donate to religious causes. Tagged advertisements may be sentto various service providers who then optionally control which usersultimately see the advertisements. The users who actually receive theadvertisements may be determined via a combination of criteria from theadvertising server coupled with locally stored viewing information. Inone embodiment, a third-party may be permitted to provide selectioncriteria for selecting a plurality of profiles to which electroniccontent is to be transmitted.

At step 212, electronic content from the third-party as well as othercontent, may be transmitted to a plurality of user locations. Thecontent may be transmitted through a head end application to a clientcontent application. The content may include audio, video, data and/orother content configured to be displayed on an internet browser, abanner, text message, a program guide, a TV channel, a DVR recordedshow, a VOD movie and/or combinations thereof. The electronic contentmay be encoded such that it may only be associated with a specificcampaign and/or uniquely tagged profile data accessed by an authorizeduser and/or on a specific electronic device at the end-user location forwhich the content is targeted. As discussed above in relation to step206, some third-parties may not wish to disclose proprietaryinformation, such as their customer lists or even the fact that they areadvertizing a specific promotion. Therefore, in one embodiment, theencoding also prevents the broadcast provider from knowing theinformation within the content, which may only be viewed or listened toat the user's authorized device. In one such embodiment, the dataelements required by a decisioning system may be linked directly to abusiness transaction (such as where a third party may provide selectioncriteria—which is discussed in more detail below). In this embodiment, aunique identifier may be assigned to a string that can only be accessedby the authorized content or media that is tied to the businesstransaction. The data elements that are part of the business transactionmay be encoded into a single string in a format known only to theservice provider and third party.

The transmission (and presentment) of the content to a user may befulfilled through a plurality of different methodologies. A decisioningmodule or module 142 in a set-top box 112 may be utilized to determinewhich portion(s) of the content to present to the user (FIG. 1). Indeed,having the decisioning module 142 at the user location ensures thatsensitive information, such as the profile data, is not subject tointerception by unauthorized parties. Furthermore, while a third partybusiness may target their advertising to interested individuals, thoseindividual's identities cannot be determined, thus protecting theirprivacy.

The determination of what portion(s) of the content to present to a userand/or to a specific electronic device may depend on one or more profileattributes. For example, while the third-party business may want to onlytarget those individuals in a certain zip code, the company may furtherwish to provide different advertisements to different segments of thatprofile group. For example, an automotive company may wish to target anaudience within a certain radius of a car dealership that makes apredefined income, but realizes that one individual may be moreinterested in a sports car while another individual may be moreinterested in a minivan.

Referring to FIG. 3, a logic and flow block diagram is provided to showone exemplary collection and distribution system for use with targetedadvertising including profile data and content. In this exemplaryembodiment, the system 300 may be divided into customer premiseequipment 302 (as explained above with respect to 112), head end 304,back office 306 (as explained above with respect to 108) and third partysystems 308 (as explained above with respect to various Internet orIntranet portals (e.g., Canoe)). The CPE 302 may be variously configuredto include matched data 326 for storing data that matches variouscriteria, a client application 334 for filtering inbound content basedon particular profile data including usage data, and/or advertisingproduct data and content 336 for capturing and selecting various dataand content to output to the display/audio device. The advertisingproduct data and content module 336 may output the same advertisingcontent to the user over and over again and on every channel or oncertain predetermined channels based on some predetermined algorithm oron an algorithm provided by the advertiser through, for example theportal. The algorithm may be a custom algorithm designed by theadvertiser or some predefined algorithms provided by the portal as partof a drop-down selection menu. The head end 304 may include the matcheddata 324 with may be forwarded to the matched data storage 326 based onindividual data synchronization and/or on individual set-top box dataaccess algorithms. Matched data is composed of one or more user dataelements associated with a unique identifier and encoded using a knownalgorithm, see e.g. 208 on FIG. 2. The selection criteria may betransmitted in-band or out-of-band to matched data 326. The head endapplication 332 may provide the data periodically on unused out-of-bandspace or on a pre-defined schedule on an in-band channel. For example,the head end application 332 may transmit all of the advertising datafor a particular geographic area at a certain time in the morning (e.g.3:00 am) on a particular channel. The set top box could tune to aparticular frequency or select certain time slots to acquire and thenfilter the advertising data. The advertising product data and contentmay be stored, for example in advertising servers 328. Additionalcontent such as additional information if the user so requests on theadvertisements may be provided in storage 330.

The back office 306 may store and process subscriber data 312 in orderto extract certain parameters 314 which can then be combined with otherthird party systems 308 data and offered as parameters to advertisers.For example, the extracted data 314 may include address, name, telephonenumber, and other pertinent data. This data may be combined with datafrom a third party system 308 such as a targeted advertising company(e.g., a direct mailing company). The targeting advertising company maycollect data on the household including the purchases made at a grocerystore, the coupons utilized, the buying habits, credit ratings, andother pertinent data. This data may then be combined with the subscriberdata either in the back office 306 and/or in the third party system 308and forwarded to a matched data targeted advertising server 322. Thematched data targeted advertising server 322 may alternatively beinterfaced to one or more campaign management system(s). The campaignmanagement system 310 may include one or more servers and/orinternet/Intranet portals 327 allowing access by advertisers to selectcertain criteria and bind their advertisements to that criteria. Theservers 327 may also allow the advertisers to select the algorithm bywhich the targeted advertisements may be displayed by the CPE 302. Thisinformation is then feed back into the head end 304 and then to the CPE302 for combination and filtering and ultimately to display and/or playto the end user.

Subscriber data 312 may be utilized to provide extracted data (see 314).The removal of certain identifying information may be used to ensure anylater usage of the data cannot be correlated back to a specificsubscriber of the service provider's system. The subscriber data thathas been extracted from subscriber data 312 is matched and tagged withdata obtained from a third-party system 308 (see 316). As seen in FIG.3, the data may come from a plurality of different sources, such assources 318 and 320 to produce the matched data 322. The matched datamay be transmitted through the head end (see 324) and be transmitted inthe memory 326 at customer premise equipment 302 at the end-user'slocation. In this regard, both the first set of profile data created,for example, in step 204 and the second set of profile data created, forexample, in step 206 may be stored securely at one or more CPEs 302 atthe end-user location.

The GUI may be stored on a campaign management system 310. As seen, thecampaign management system 310 may include one or more referencedatabases or servers 327 which may create matched data sets 322 whichmay provide information regarding the profiles to aid in the selectionprocess. The campaign management system 310 may also comprisecomputer-readable mediums that contain data regarding the ordering ofcontent, reporting and billing, and other data regarding content fromthe third party. In one embodiment, a third-party system 311 may beseparate but operatively connected to the campaign management system310. In one such embodiment, one or more servers and/orinternet/Intranet portals 327 of the campaign management system 310 mayshare the encoding for the token with the third-party system 311 (seee.g. 313). The third-party system 311 may then make or otherwise receivea unique key for a particular campaign. As shown in exemplary step 315,the third-party system 311 may transmit the unique keys and the contentdirectly to a head end device, such as providing the content to theAdvertising Product Data and Content 328 of head end device 304.

FIG. 4 shows a table of users that may receive transmitted contentaccording to an illustrative embodiment. As seen in table 402, fourusers are represented by rows 404-410, respectively. User 404 meets“Criteria A” (see column 412), however, does not meet “Criteria B”(column 414). Therefore, in accordance with one embodiment where onlyend-user locations meeting both criteria A and B will be sent thecontent, user 404 will not receive the content regarding the minivan orthe sports car. As seen in FIG. 4, users 406, 408 and 410 meet thecriteria and will receive the content (as discussed below, however, thesame portion of the content may not be displayed at each of thelocations). Looking to column 416 of FIG. 4, user 2 is watching channel117, which corresponds to sports programming, while user 3 is watchingchannel 916, which corresponds to children's programming. Thus, in oneembodiment, a portion of the content that relates to the sports car maybe presented to user 2, while a portion of the content that relates tothe minivan may be presented to user 3.

In one embodiment, the content transmitted in step 212 is a single file.For example, in one embodiment, a single MPEG audiovisual file may betransmitted. The decisioning module 142 may then determine whatportion(s) of the content to present to the user. Certain segments ofthe single MPEG may be selected and extracted from the file to presentto the user. As also shown in FIG. 4, no portion of the content wasdisplayed to user 4. In one embodiment, this may be due to the fact thatuser 4 did not utilize the set top box during a predefined time framefor presentment of the content. An optional time frame requirement maybe associated with the content to allow third parties to ensure theiradvertisements are viewed within a certain time frame, such as during asporting event on a specific channel (i.e., the Super Bowl) or at acertain time (prime time).

In one embodiment, step 216 may be implemented, which determines whethera profile attribute represented in the profile has changed. Step 216 mayoccur before and/or after step 214. If step 216 occurs before step 214,decisioning module 142 may determine that the content is no longerrelevant to the user or that a different portion is relevant to theuser. Because the content may already be located at the consumer premiseequipment or otherwise readily available to the user, the differentportion does not have to be retrieved from the third party beforepresenting it to the user.

Alternatively, step 220 may be utilized to obtain additional content topresent. Furthermore, if at step 216, it is determined that one or morespecific attributes have been changed, then the profile of step 208 maybe updated accordingly. Indeed, a user's habits and usage patterns maybe utilized to update the profile. Because the profile may be locallystored and the raw data need not be pushed back to the broadcastprovider or any other third party, no other party may directly correlatethe data with that particular user.

Likewise, once the user is presented with a first portion of thecontent, step 216 may be implemented after 214 to determine whether topresent additional content. For example, the user may have provided auser input, such as with a remote control, that indicates he or she isinterested in more information. In one embodiment, another portion isthen presented to the user (step 218). The presentment of the secondportion may be immediate or may be scheduled to be presented during aregular allotted time slot during regular programming. The differentportions of the content are not required to be presented on the sameelectronic device. For example, in one embodiment, the first portion ofthe content may be displayed on the television while the user iswatching a broadcasted television show, while a second portion may bepresented on an internet banner advertisement while the user visits aparticular site or at a particular time, still other content may bedisplayed on a program guide or other application.

Again, the secure profile may be updated to ensure the same portion ofcontent is or alternatively is not repeatedly presented to a user.Indeed, predefined rules may be established, whether throughuser-established settings or by the third-party, that the content (or aportion thereof) may only be presented to a user a select number oftimes and/or must be presented to the user at least a set number oftimes. One or more such rules may involve updating the profile of step208. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that any largenumber of combinations are within the scope of this disclosure, and theabove example is merely exemplary.

Confirmation that a portion of the content was presented to the user maybe implemented (step 222). For example, looking to FIG. 4, portions ofthe content were presented to users 2 and 3, but not user 4 (forexample, as indicated above, user 4 was may not have been viewing anycontent during a predefined time interval). Step 222 may be coupled withor followed by step 224 in one or more embodiments. For example, theinformation in column 416 may be provided to the third party to indicatethat that number of users who watched each “portion” of the content.Furthermore, additional data may also be collected for one or moreindividuals (see column 418, showing that secondary data was collectedfrom user 3). Exemplary data that may be provided in step 224 mayincludes, but is not limited to: when the user was presented with theportion, was a second portion presented, did the user request additionalcontent, and combinations thereof.

In further embodiments, data reported back may include statisticsregarding specific attributes in relation to the portion of contentpresented to a user. For example, statistics may indicate that 50,000users in a specific metro area that saw a particular portion of thecontent (for example, a specific advertisement). Yet further statisticsmay indicate that of those 50,000 users, a specified portion had a valueof 1 for a particular attribute and/or another specified portion had avalue of 2 for that same particular attribute. Those skilled in the artwill readily understand in view of this disclosure that severaldifferent statistical methodologies may be utilized to report theresults in step 224.

Utilizing one or more methods of the invention would allow serviceproviders to quantify the number of users who viewed or listened to anadvertisement, thereby accurately determining any fees to charge in afee-based system. In one embodiment, the system is configured such thatonce the content is transmitted to the user location in step 212, atleast a portion of the content is required to be displayed. For example,the service provider may determine whether a targeted electronic deviceis active before transmitting the content. Thus, in one embodiment,confirmation may readily be determined by the quantity of electronicdevices that the content was transmitted to. As discussed above, anencoded string may be utilized to transmit the content to the end-user'slocation. In one such embodiment, the content may only be “unlocked” forviewing if the profile associated with the electronic device isvalidated. The content may also be encoded to ensure that only aspecific electronic device and/or a specific user may view (or listen)to the content.

Exemplary Method of Using Tokens

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary method of conducting anadvertizing campaign in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.At step 502, a transaction for the campaign is initiated in which aunique identifier, such as a token, is generated for an advertiser,specific advertisement campaign or other application. The token may begenerated and associated with a plurality of data elements. The dataelements may represent one or more of the profile attributes discussedabove, such as for example, income, credit score, family size, etc. Asdiscussed below, the exact data elements utilized may be negotiatedduring the development of the campaign (see step 504). The uniqueidentification and related information may be stored on acomputer-readable medium, such as database 327, at the campaignmanagement system 310 shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 2 (208 and 210)

As indicated with the bi-directional arrow between steps 502 and 504,the creation and development of the campaign may be ongoing interrelatedprocess. In one embodiment, the work performed in steps 502 and 504 mustbe closely coordinated since the flow of content from 504 to 508 and theflow of tokens from 506 and 508 may be separate independent activities.The work performed in 506 is may be performed by the service providerand/or trusted third party and involves the generation and timelydelivery of the tokens to 508. In one embodiment, the work performed in504 may be performed by the service provider, yet in another embodiment,the work could also be performed by the content provider or on behalf ofthe content provider by a third party. As known to those skilled in theart, potential advertisers and the service provider alike generallyunderstand that data collected as part of providing goods and servicesto consumers should remain confidential to protect the interest of theconsumers. Indeed, several aspects of the invention relate to ensuringthat end-users receive relevant advertisements without sacrificing thesecurity of their personal and private information. In this regard, anadvertiser would disfavor disclosing its customer lists to the serviceprovider and vice versa. In one embodiment, a third-party blind matchingcompany may be utilized during the campaign development (step 308) tomatch an advertiser's attribute list with the subscriber data of theservice provider. Alternatively, a third-party blind matching company isnot required; however, the parties conduct a blind exchange of at leastsome confidential information. For example, if the advertiser is a carcompany, they may wish to know the quantity of individuals who have alease coming due within a predefined time period and/or the quantity ofusers who have an automobile that is was produced before a certain year.

In one embodiment, the service provider's data regarding its subscribersmay be matched and tagged with “secret” identifiers from the advertiser(i.e., the car company) that don't reveal the identity of theinformation, such as “CAR COMPANY TAG #1.” Therefore, the serviceprovider is still able to provide a quantity of individuals who meet theselection criteria of the tags, but is not capable of determining whatcriteria those subscribers meet. In yet other embodiments, identifiersthat are not secret to the service provider may also be used inconjunction with or independently of the “secret” tags. For example, theservice provider may identify a group of individuals who meet thecriteria of “CAR COMPANY TAG #1” and one or more additional criteria,such as related to viewing habits or any other profile information.Using such a system allows the service provider and the advertiser todetermine which segment(s) of the service-provider's subscribers totarget for the advertisement campaign and/or how many groups that willbe segmented in the advertisement campaign.

In some embodiments, a secure blind third party agency or othermechanisms might be utilized that will protect the data integrity andsecurity of both a service provider's data and that of an outsideadvertising agency. For example, the advertising campaign managerworking for a major auto company may provide some data to a blind sourcesuch as those customers in Philadelphia that have gone into a specificauto dealer in the last month and/or those customers whose lease isabout to expire. The service provider might provide the blind thirdparty source with the auto tax records for the family including the typeof cars the family currently owns, the number and age of the children,whether the family watches the outdoor network, and the income level ofthe family. In some embodiments, the family might select to opt out ofone or more of these parameters. The blind third party source may thenmatch the names and addresses from the advertising agency representingthe auto maker with the types of cars provided from the serviceprovider's database and generate one or more unique tokens for theservice providers. The advertising company would then provide severalcommercials and/or other media content to the service provider matchedto the tokens. As explained in detail below and in relation to FIG. 4,based upon the presence of token 1, the advertising agency may associatea minivan commercial for a family with small children who already have aminivan, for token 2 the advertising agency might associate a sports carcommercial for a family with a single male and a high income stream, fortoken 3, the advertising agency might associate a sports utility vehiclefor a male head of household who watches an outdoor-related network.

Once the data elements are determined, they are provided to the serviceprovider during step 502. As shown in illustrative embodiment of FIG. 5,encoding rules are also created at step 502. Specifically, the encodingrules may be of any structure agreed upon by the service provider andthe advertiser that reflects how the attributes will be represented. Theencoding rules and the data elements from the transaction creation (step502) are then utilized in a derivation process (step 506). During thederivation process of step 506, the data elements are utilized to assigna token to a plurality of subscribers specific to the advertisingcampaign. In one embodiment, the token may be created from informationobtained from the combination of the data in database 327 at thecampaign management system 310 and data obtained from a third-partysystem, such as the third parties 308 shown in FIG. 3 (which may havebeen previously matched and tagged (see element 316 of FIG. 3). Thetokens may be transmitted (and stored) on the head end device 304, forexample as matched data 324. In another embodiment, the token may bestored on the CPE 302 at matched data 326. The matched data (324 and/or326) may be updated based upon actions by the decisioning module 142,user actions, and/or third party applications.

In this regard, unlike certain prior art systems, several hundredbusiness rules do not have to be transmitted into the CPE which may havelimited memory and processing capacity. Rather, as shown in theillustrated embodiment, head end devices, such as those shown in headend 304 in FIG. 3 may be utilized for any required filtering of businessrules and only the token that is specifically keyed to the advertisingcampaign is required to be downloaded to the CPE. The token transmittedto the CPE may comprise the attributes with an identifier of the encoded“secret” and/or known tags.

At step 508, a runtime presentation engine is utilized after the tokenhas been transmitted to the CPE. In one embodiment, an advertisementhaving several portions is received at the CPE. In one embodiment, theadvertisement is a single file, such as an MPEG file. In anotherembodiment, the advertisement is an active program that is capable ofreading the token applicable to the specific advertisement (discussed inmore detail below). Any individual CPE may have several different tokensstored on the CPE or attached storage devices at any given time.Application program interfaces (APIs) are configured to not allow accessto the encoding rules, thereby further protecting the privacy of theconsumers. As such, there can be do direct correlation to income, creditscores, or any other profile data contained in the data elements.Rather, upon running of the application, the program will access a setof access APIs via the unique identifier that was initially negotiated.The data element string which is still encoded may be read by thedecisioning module 142 to choose a specific portion of the advertisementto present to the subscriber.

In those embodiments where the advertisement is an active application,it may read the token and, in accordance with the encoding rules anddata elements, play a specific portion of the advertisement. Forexample, as discussed in relation to FIG. 4, one user may receiveadvertisement portion that is directed towards a sports car whileanother user receives a portion that is directed towards a minivan.Thus, the specific presentation presented to the user will depend on thepresence of the token on the CPE, which is includes specific dataelements and governed by the encoding rules.

The tokens may be managed to support one or more advertisementcampaigns. For example, as discussed above, some CPEs have limitedstorage, thus one or more tokens may be configured to be deleted orotherwise deactivated after a pre-defined time period. This feature mayalso be utilized to ensure that the advertisers' commercials are onlyfunctional during the proper time interval. For example, an advertisermay only contract for their advertisement that run during a specificsporting event, such as the Super Bowl, therefore, enabling the token toonly allow the advertisement to function during the Super Bowl. Inanother embodiment, computer-executable instructions may enable afeature that confirms when at least one portion of the advertisement isprovided to the user. This too may also be useful for accountingpurposes. The confirmation, however, will not contain an indication ofthe data elements or the encoding rules. Furthermore, in accordance withcertain embodiments, the token may be utilized as a front end tospecific data element that is known to be used throughout multiplecampaigns. For example, profile attributes relating to income are oftenutilized across several campaigns. Therefore, in one embodiment, one ormore profile attributes relating to income are referenced via the tokenon the CPE to be considered by several advertisement campaigns.

The tokens may be modified by the decision module or other functionbased on an action taken. Once modified the modified token will bereplicated to one or more data stores in server or CPE based datastores.

We claim:
 1. A method comprising: receiving a token at an electronicdevice having a unique identifier associated with a plurality of profileattributes based upon known profile information relating to a user ofthe electronic device according to a set of encoding rules; transmittinga confirmation of receiving the token at the electronic device;receiving electronic content comprising a plurality of portions, whereinthe electronic content is configured to communicate with an applicationprogramming interface by use of the unique identifier and is configuredto not have access to the encoding rules; and configuring the electronicdevice to provide a specific portion of the electronic content basedupon the encoded rules in the token.